PSC blames police officers’ misconduct for #ENDSARS protests

The Police Service Commission (PSC) on Tuesday blamed misconduct by men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force for the #ENDSARS protests that rocked the country in October last year.

The Chairman of PSC, Musiliu Smith, stated this at a retreat with the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and other senior police officers in Abuja.

The #ENDSARS protest was spearheaded by youths to protest years of rights violations by operatives of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other police tactical units.

The protest forced the IGP to scrap the SARS and initiate several reforms in the Force as demanded by the protesters.

At the retreat, Smith, who is a former Inspector-General of Police, said the commission was inundated with reports from members of the public on misconduct by police personnel.

He said: “We are always having a lot of complaints from the members of the public against police officers. I believe that #ENDSARS resulted from serious misconduct of some of our personnel.

READ ALSO: Families of police officers killed during #EndSARS protest get N160m

“I want to advise that we review the arrangements we are making for investigating such cases. Let’s ensure that investigations are thoroughly conducted and whoever is the police officer that has been indicted will be punished according to the law. If we are doing that, some of the public complaints will go down.”

He also challenged the IGP to work closely with the PSC on the recruitment of credible Nigerians into the force.

In his earlier address, Adamu said the retreat was to bridge the communication gap and engender a better understanding and working relationship between the force and the commission.

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